House car plug door control mechanism

ABSTRACT

A door operating mechanism particularly adapted for railway freight car sliding doors of heavy &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;plug&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; type which are shifted into and out of the door opening before and after movement alongside the car wall.

United Staws Patent Bollinger, Sr.

[451 Jan. 25, 1972 HOUSE CAR PLUG DOOR CONTROL MECHANISM Luther L. Bollinger, Sr., Reading, Pa.

Inventor:

Assignee: Hennessy Products Incorporated, Chambersburg, Pa.

Filed: Apr. 27, 1970 Appl. No.: 32,049

US. Cl ..49/362, 49/219, 49/449 Int. Cl. ..E05f 1 1/34 Field of Search ..49/362, 2 1 622(), 49/449 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,280,232 4/1942 Haseltine...

3,337,994 8/1967 Olander..... 3,468,062 9/1969 Custer ..49/362 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 696,812 9/1940 Germany ..49/2 l6 Primary Exzzminerl(enneth Downey AttorneyBedell & Burgess ABSTRACT A door operating mechanism particularly adapted for railway freight car sliding doors of heavy plug type which are shifted into and out of the door opening before and after movement alongside the car wall.

7 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT The invention is an addition to and improvement on the structure shown in US. Pat. No. 3,468,062 issued Sept. 23, 1969 directed to a rack and pinion mechanism for sliding a railway car door along the car wall. If that mechanism is applied to a plug" door which is shifted transversely of the wall into and out of the door opening, such as are in general use in refrigerator cars having sliding doors, the large size and weight of the door create problems in operation which are not present in the ordinary sliding door. Forklift trucks, crowbars, sledge hammers, chains and blocks and similar devices are used for moving the door and frequently damage the door extensively.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The main object of the present invention is to avoid damage to the door and to facilitate the opening and closing of a plugtype door. The invention incorporates a hingelike arm connecting the door with the pinion driven rack. The arm accommodates relative transverse shifting of the door independently of the rack and readily integrates the rack and door to produce direct thrust on the door parallel to the wall even though the door is offset from the rack transversely of the wall.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of one longitudinal half of a'railway car embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a detail longitudinal horizontal section on line 2-2 of FIG. 1 and drawn to a larger scale and showing the door in closed position and wholly within the door opening in the car wall.

FIG. 3 is a similar section showing the door shifted transversely of the car wall and in position to slide alongside the wall, as is the door described in US. Pat. No. 3,468,062.

FIG. 4 is a detail perspective of the end portion of the hinged arm when in the FIG. 3 position with the readily releasable pin locking the arm against hinging movement.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The car body includes inner and outer sidewalls 2, 3 respectively and spaced door posts 4 defining a door opening 6 between them. A track 7 extends along the car below the level of the door opening and a door 8 is mounted on the track by the usual rollers or wheeled carriages 9 on which the door may shift transversely of the wall between the positions shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

Mechanism for such shifting and for securing the door in closed position is indicated at M in FIG. 1 and corresponds to that shown in US. Pat. No. 2,605,515.

Door sliding mechanism, shown in detail in US. Pat. No. 3,468,062, includes a hand wheel 10 joumaled on the wall on a shaft 1] which mounts a pinion for sliding a horizontal rack gear 12 along the wall and having a clevis pin 13 at its lefthand end. A bracket secured to the door has an upright body plate 14 with vertically spaced horizontal flanges 15.

An elongated hinge arm 17 has one end portion pivoted on clevis pin 13 and near its other end extends between bracket flanges 15 to which it is pivoted by a pin 18.

A locking latch pin 21, slidable vertically in an upright sleeve 22 on the upper bracket flange 15, has its lower end riding on the arm 17 (FIG. 2) except when the door is shifted transversely of the car wall, by mechanism M, to the position shown in FIG. 3 when pin 21 drops into a hole 23 in arm 17, thus locking arm 17 and the door in alignment lengthwise of the car wall. When so locked the operation of wheel 10 and rack 12 exerts a pull, or push, on the door in a direction parallel to the wall and there is no transverse thrust on the door by wheel 10 and arm 17 such as would create objectionable friction between the door and the wall or between the door supports and their track.

When the door is spaced longitudinally of the car from the opening, anticlockwise rotation of wheel 10 slides the door into a position in front of the door opening (FIG. 3). Then locking pin 21 is raised, by a radial fingerpiece 24 projecting through slot 25 in the side of sleeve 22, thereby releasing arm 17 so that it may pivot on pin 18 to freely accommodate shifting the door transversely, by mechanism M, into the wall opening and flush with the car wall, thus fully closing the door (FIG. 2). In this shifting movement, the left-hand end 26 of arm 17 opposes the bracket upright body plate 14 which serves as a wear plate and avoids denting the door panel by arm end 26.

The operating gear 10, 11, 12 may be the same as is used for an ordinary sliding door such as is shown in US. Pat. No. 3,468,062, but when combined with the hinge arm and parts described above adapts that operating gear for application to a plug-type door. The length of the hinge arm and the spacing of its pivot pins may be varied to meet different thicknesses of the door. Exclusive use of such modifications, and others, within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

lclaim:

1. Mechanism for sliding a railway car plug door alongside a car wall between a position within and closing an opening in the wall and a position spaced along the wall from such opening, comprising a force-multiplying device adapted to be mounted on the wall, an elongated thrust member actuated thereby, a hingelike arm extending lengthwise from said thrust member and having a pivot thereto at one end so as to swing transversely thereof and having another pivot spaced lengthwise of the arm from said first-mentioned pivot and parallel thereto for connecting the arm directly to the door, and readily releasable locking means on the arm for securing the arm against movement about one of said pivots.

2. Mechanism as described in claim 1 in which the locking means comprises a latch mounted on the door and automatically positively engaging said arm after predetermined movement of the arm about said pivots.

3 Mechanism as described in claim 2 in which the latch is supported on the arm and rides over the same during the pivoting movement of the arm, the am having an opening in the path of movement of the latch thereover to receive the same and thereby automatically hold the arm and latch member against relative movement and means for readily raising the latch manually from said opening to release said latch.

4. In combination with a car wall having a door opening and a plug door shiftable transversely of the wall into and out of said opening and movable alongside the wall when outside the opening, a rack extending parallel to the wall and slidable lengthwise thereof and spaced from the opening therein, a

- manually rotatable pinion joumaled on the wall and in mesh with said rack, an arm having a pivot at one end to said rack and having a parallel pivot on the door spaced from the firstmentioned pivot, said pivots accommodating swinging of said arm about said pivots and the transverse shifting of the door, and means locking said arm against pivoting movement relative to said door and rack to provide unyielding thrust to said door lengthwise of said wall by said pinion and rack.

5. The combination of a car wall and plug door and door shifting and sliding mechanism as described in claim 4 in which a bracket on the door has vertically spaced flanges and the arm has a portion between said flanges spaced from its pivot to the door, and the locking means comprises a latch pin slidable vertically through the upper flange and riding on the am, there being an opening in the arm into which the lower end of said latch pin descends by gravity as the door shifts outwardly of the wall opening a predetermined distance and thereby holds the door and rack in alignment lengthwise of the car.

6. The combination of a car wall and plug door as described in claim 5 in which the latch pin has a laterally extending fingerpiece above the bracket upper flange for manually lifting the pin to release the rack and door from alignment.

7. The combination of a car wall, a plug door and door sliding means as described in claim 4 in which the other end of the arm bears against the outer side of the door and limits the inward shifting of the door transversely of the rack. 

1. Mechanism for sliding a railway car plug door alongside a car wall between a position within and closing an opening in the wall and a position spaced along the wall from such opening, comprising a force-multiplying device adapted to be mounted on the wall, an elongated thrust member actuated thereby, a hingelike arm extending lengthwise from said thrust member and having a pivot thereto at one end so as to swing transversely thereof and having another pivot spaced lengthwise of the arm from said first-mentioned pivot and parallel thereto for connecting the arm directly to the door, and readily releasable locking means on the arm for securing the arm against movement about one of said pivots.
 2. Mechanism as described in claim 1 in which the locking means comprises a latch mounted on the door and automatically positively engaging said arm after predetermined movement of the arm about said pivots.
 3. Mechanism as described in claim 2 in which the latch is supported on the arm and rides over the same during the pivoting movement of the arm, the arm having an opening in the path of movement of the latch thereover to receive the same and thereby automatically hold the arm and latch member against relative movement and means for readily raising the latch manually from said opening to release said latch.
 4. In combination with a car wall having a door opening and a plug door shiftable transversely of the wall into and out of said opening and movable alongside the wall when outside the opening, a rack extending parallel to the wall and slidable lengthwise thereof and spaced from the opening therein, a manually rotatable pinion journaled on the wall and in mesh with said rack, an arm having a pivot at one end to said rack and having a parallel pivot on the door spaced from the first-mentioned pivot, said pivots accommodating swinging of said arm about said pivots and the transverse shifting of the door, and means locking said arm against pivoting movement relative to said door and rack to provide unyielding thrust to said door lengthwise of said wall by said pinion and rack.
 5. The combination of a car wall and plug door and door shifting and sliding mechanism as described in claim 4 in which a bracket on the door has vertically spaced flanges and the arm has a portion betWeen said flanges spaced from its pivot to the door, and the locking means comprises a latch pin slidable vertically through the upper flange and riding on the arm, there being an opening in the arm into which the lower end of said latch pin descends by gravity as the door shifts outwardly of the wall opening a predetermined distance and thereby holds the door and rack in alignment lengthwise of the car.
 6. The combination of a car wall and plug door as described in claim 5 in which the latch pin has a laterally extending fingerpiece above the bracket upper flange for manually lifting the pin to release the rack and door from alignment.
 7. The combination of a car wall, a plug door and door sliding means as described in claim 4 in which the other end of the arm bears against the outer side of the door and limits the inward shifting of the door transversely of the rack. 